Energy efficiency

Technology has the potential to improve the way we live and work, but it can also carry risks to the environment. The Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) industry and its customers have a responsibility to minimise the adverse impact of ICT.

One way we can reduce the impact on climate change – and at the same time reduce operational costs – is by improving the energy efficiency of ICT products and services. Standards can help achieve this goal.

European Commission Mandate M/462 on energy efficiency

In Mandate M/462, the European Commission has asked us, along with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), to develop standards to “enable efficient energy use in fixed and mobile information and communication networks”.

We have identified – and are now developing – the standards needed to support the EC’s energy efficiency targets.

‘the Green Abstraction Layer’, a standard on the power management capabilities of fixed network nodes, which enables operators for the first time to manage the energy consumption of telecom networks easily, offsetting network performance and capacity against energy costs

improving our standards for transmission equipment to support the European Commission’s Ecodesign of Energy Related Products Directive

Energy efficiency is now a key focus of ETSI's Access, Terminals, Transmission and Multiplexing Technical Committee (TC ATTM). The TC is defining the general landscape of work required to address the energy consumption of all telecommunications equipment and systems. TC ATTM and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) are working together on broadband implementation in Europe. Energy costs continue to rise, while broadband penetration is introducing new equipment to the network architecture. Energy consumption is therefore a major consideration affecting widespread broadband deployment